Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the nation's oldest technology university, has long prided itself on its state-of-the-art design and engineering curriculum. Several years ago, to call attention to its equally estimable media and performing arts programs, RPI commissioned British architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw to design the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) on a steep hillside overlooking the Hudson Valley. Read the story

Judges’ comments

“They used BIM and fully integrated project delivery to the fullest extent to deliver a great project.”

— Tracy Nicholas, VP, Alter Construction Management, Skokie, Ill.

“The project had to do something beyond ordinary, and this does it.”

— Carol Ross Barney, FAIA, of Chicago's Ross Barney + Jankowski

Gold Award

Ohlone College of Newark Center for Health Sciences and Technology, Newark, Calif.

A visionary president and an innovative Building Team set a new green standard for community colleges with Ohlone College’s LEED Platinum Newark Center for Health Sciences and Technology. The $58 million facility stacks up against some of the greenest college buildings in the world, with near-off-the-grid renewable energy performance and advanced stormwater management techniques. Read the story

Judges’ comments

“Here’s a community college that could have done another crummy building, but its president came in with a vision, and it wasn’t just superficial. It’s an owner that we’d all like to work for.”

— Corey Wieseman, AIA, LEED AP, principal with DLR Group, Chicago

“LEED Platinum does not happen without Building Team collaboration. It’s about being challenged and stepping up and making it happen. I say two thumbs up.”

Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Phoenix, Ariz.

Phoenix wanted to revitalize its downtown; Arizona State University wanted stronger ties to the city. Together they used building information modeling to plan a new campus and put a media icon at its center—and that’s the way it is! Read the story

Judges’ comments

“Twenty months from start to certificate of occupancy on a building this size—that’s pretty impressive.”

“This project is unusual and interesting, especially creating a classroom right in the middle of everything.”

— Carol Ross Barney, FAIA, of Chicago's Ross Barney + Jankowski

Bronze Award

The Haverford School, Haverford, Pa.

Imagine this scenario: You’re planning a $32.9 million project involving 112,000 sf of new construction and renovation work, and your job site is an active 32-acre junior-K-to-12 school campus bordered by well-heeled neighbors who are extremely concerned about construction noise and traffic. Add to that the fact that within 30 days of groundbreaking, the general contractor gets canned. This nightmare situation is exactly what Mike Rufo faced as construction manager for The Haverford School, a private school for 981 boys, on Philadelphia’s Main Line. Read the story

Judges’ comments

“Logistically, this was a difficult job with multiple departments, and they still did it all in 15 months.”

— Tracy Nicholas, VP, Alter Construction Management, Skokie, Ill.

Special Recognition

Gloria Sabater Elementary School and Community Center, Vineland, N.J.

It took more than 40 stakeholder charrettes and a lot of creative financing to get Vineland, N.J.’s new public-private school/community center built. The 181,000-sf facility, completed in early 2008, combines a pre-K-to-grade-5 school for 830 students, a pool and recreation facility, and a community health and wellness center that provides health and dental care through a local nonprofit organization. Read the story

Judges’ comments

“They used New Market Tax Credits to develop the community—a great solution for everyone.”

— Tracy Nicholas, VP, Alter Construction Management, Skokie, Ill.

“There were a ton of stakeholders on this project, with the city, school district, and Building Team players. Someone did a great job in pulling the team together.”

A daring Building Team, led by British architect Alan Short, pull off a complicated natural ventilation design scheme for Judson University’s LEED Gold art, design, and architecture center. Built primarily of concrete, the building draws cool air at the base, circulates the air throughout the facility, and exhausts the warm air through roof terminals through a stack effect. Read the story

The Building Team for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy could have taken the easy route: just build a new cadet residence hall on the only remaining open space on the landlocked 55-acre campus at Buzzards Bay, renovate the old dorms as well as possible, and don't even worry about saving energy. Instead, the team took the less-traveled path. They saved the green space by adding two floors—and 150 new beds—above two existing dorms, thus avoiding a “two-class” residence hierarchy for the Academy's 900 cadets: flashy new building vs. 40-year-old dorm. Read the story

Judges’ comments

“This is an engineering-heavy project, both mechanically and structurally. The combined technology—solar, microturbine, and wind turbine—has merit.”

The Nittany Lions jump on the BIM bandwagon with the new $65.6 million, 114,000-sf Lewis Katz Building at the Penn State Dickinson School of Law. Creating a full building information model helped the Building Team identify clashes and coordinate MEP systems. It also helped construction manager Gilbane in executing Polshek Partnership’s complex tubular design for the building. Read the story